I deployed for 1 year and while I was gone my little nephew got out the SKS and shot it a little bit. Which is fine with me, he shoots my rifles all the time. Well after he cleaned it and put it back in the safe, he left it cocked. It sat like this for probably 8-9months without ever being fired...

So when I came home and got the rifle out to fire it. Guess what happened??? Pull the trigger and it just goes "click"...I think, well what the hell? I work the action manually and the shell ejects...I pick up the shell and look at the primer and it has the slightest little tiny dent in the primer. So I try a few more times and I get a few shots off. But I would say 90% of them was just a click...

I would definitely check the two most crucial areas first for crud or other obstructions.

1. Firing pin channel in the bolt2. Trigger group

+1

Your nephew may have had a popped primmer and not even known it. If this happened, its possible that there is a little piece of a primer stuck in the FP channel causing the PF to not full seat. Or the FP channel has gotten some dirt/carbon/debris stuck up in there.

First thing I would do is fully disassemble that bolt and inspect it very well.

I still suspect dirt. I am kinda' doubtfull about leaving the gun cocked would have recked the hammer spring to the point that you have 90% FtF.

Coop

How long have you left your SKS cocked without firing or cleaning? Just doesnt make sense that it would go from shooting perfectly, to not shooting at all after only a period of not firing and the rifle being cocked.

Im very good at cleaning my rifles, been doing it for well over 20 years now. And When I clean my SKS, I take it completely apart all the way down to pulling the firing pin out of the bolt. THe Trigger assembly is very clean, to get all the kosmoline out of it I soaked it in kerosine for a few hours. Trigger group looks like a new assembly from the factory...

It just needs a new hammer spring, or I will remove the current one and stretch it out a little and see if that cures it.

I dont have calipers or any measuring tool too measure accurately...But its more than enough to ignite the primer. I would say its a good 1/16th or more that sticks out. But the dent im getting on the primer is literally just a slight ring mark on the primer.

Im thinking since I will be buying some new parts I will go ahead and buy one of Murry's firing pins.

I just thought about my post...I guess I should say the firing pin doesnt protrude AT ALL...It still free floats just fine and like it has forever. But when the firing pin is at the forward most position, its probably 1/16th of an inch if I had to guess of hand. Maybe more or a little less...

When it first done it, my first thought was my firing pin had broken or the tip had chipped off. I was just notified by my brother that he took his trigger group out of his Norinco and the rifle worked flawless. He done some swapping around with parts like firing pins, bolts, and other stuff and its definately not firing the pin hard enough to sufficently hit the primer.

He first swapped our trigger groups, my rifle worked fine with his trigger and his rifle done the mis firing mine was doing with my trigger in his rifle.

He then swapped our firing pins only with original trigger in my rifle, same result with misfires.

Good diagnosis on the trigger group! But it may not be the hammer spring. The sear may not be setting underneath the hammer at all. Try loading several dummy rounds and taking the receiver cover off to observe the hammer position.

Good diagnosis on the trigger group! But it may not be the hammer spring. The sear may not be setting underneath the hammer at all. Try loading several dummy rounds and taking the receiver cover off to observe the hammer position.

I am just wondering if the hammer is setting at all? It seems that if you just had a weak spring, that there would at least be a modest primer strike. But no evidence of a strike at all tells me the hammer is not setting properly on top of the sear, and therefore not releasing to hit the firing pin.

Clean up your sear and rails on the trigger group frame, and then see if there is a difference.